PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) —
Julia Ayrault and Emma Shumate scored 12 points apiece and No. 22 Michigan State slipped past Rutgers 70-60 on Wednesday night.
Grace VanSlooten added 11 points for the Spartans (14-3, 4-2 Big Ten Conference), who outscored the Scarlet Knights 23-13 in the third quarter to gain control of the game.
Destiny Adams had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights (8-10, 0-7), who lost their sixth straight. Kiyomi McMiller added 13 points.
Michigan State never trailed in taking a 22-20 lead after the first quarter, which ended with Rutgers scoring the last three points of the period and the Scarlet Knights had the first eight of the second for a 28-22 lead. McMiller hit a jumper late to pull Rutgers into a tie at 33 at halftime.
In the last 3 1/2 minutes of the third quarter, starting with four points from VanSlooten, the Spartans outscored Rutgers 12-3 to take a 55-46 lead into the fourth quarter.
Nyla Hampton scored on a layup to open the fourth quarter and the Spartans led 57-46. The lead stayed in double figures until Awa Sidibe hit a jumper for the Scarlet Knights to make it 68-59 with 1:37 to go. That was the last field goal for Rutgers.
Rutgers, which had a 47-35 rebounding edge, shot 35% and Michigan State shot 38% but the Spartans had only 13 turnovers, which cost them four points. MSU turned 22 Rutgers turnovers into 26 points.
With VanSlooten and Shumate coming off the bench, Michigan State reserves outscored the Rutgers bench 34-8.
Rutgers is at Michigan on Saturday and Michigan State is at Illinois on Sunday.
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